Roman Catholic Sisters built and managed hospitals, orphanages, and charitable institutions that
served millions of people in America long before similar positions were open to
women.But Women’s History Month
rarely mentions them or their contributions.It’s time it did. The scope and quality of the institutions
they created and sustained, and, indeed, their acts of mercy, manifest courage,
conviction and selflessness, have been nothing short of extraordinary.

On September 22, 2009,
the U.S. House of Representatives passed Resolution 441, an action that applauds the social, cultural,
and political contributions of Catholic Sisters in the United States, while at the same
time recognizing that these women have led community lives dedicated to prayer
and service, “fearlessly and often sacrificially committing their personal
lives to teaching, healing, and social action.”

The resolution cites these facts among others:

·Nine religious
women, the first Catholic Sisters to live and work in the U.S. journeyed from
France to New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1727;

·Catholic Sisters
established the nation’s largest private school system and founded more than
110 colleges and universities in the United States, educating millions of
students;

·By 1880,
approximately 32,000 Sisters in the U.S. taught 400,000 children in 2,000
parochial schools; by 1965, approximately 180,000 Sisters taught nearly 4 ½
million children;

·Today there are
approximately 59,000 Sisters;

·Catholic Sisters
participated in the opening of the American West, traveling vast distances to
minister in remote locations, setting up schools and hospitals;

·More than 600
Sisters from 21 different religious communities nursed both Union and
Confederate soldiers during the Civil War;

·Catholic Sisters
cared for afflicted populations during the epidemics of cholera, typhoid,
yellow fever, small pox, tuberculosis, and influenza during the 19th
and 20th centuries;

·One in six hospital
patients are treated in a Catholic facility;

·Catholic Sisters
have been among the first to stand with the underprivileged, to work among and
to educate the poor and underserved;

·Nine Sisters from
the U.S. have given their lives since 1980 while working for social justice and
human rights in developing nations;

·Catholic Sisters
continue to provide shelter and food to satisfy the basic human needs of the
economically and socially disadvantaged and to advocate relentlessly for the
fair and equal treatment of all persons;

·Catholic Sisters
work for the eradication of poverty and racism and for the promotion of
nonviolence, equality and democracy in principle and in action;

·The humanitarian
work of Catholic Sisters with communities in crisis and refugees throughout the
world positions them as activists and diplomats of peace and justice for some
of the most at-risk populations.

Von Mallinckrodt, born in Germany, in 1817, worked with the blind, creating an institute for their education before establishing the congregation that served the poor, the blind, and the needy that rapidly expanded before being driven out of Prussian Germany. Von Mallinckrodt established houses in South America, the United States, elsewhere in Europe and in the Philippines--where they exist today--with Sisters running hospitals, schools and colleges, nursing homes and caring for the poor, the homeless, immigrants and displaced persons, and women and children victims of human trafficking.

McAuley, born in Ireland, in 1778, used an inheritance to lease property on a fashionable street in Dublin where she took in homeless women and children to provide for their care and education. Other women, intrigued by the house and McAuley's work, joined her, forming what would become the Sisters of Mercy. While McAuley lived only ten years as a Sister of Mercy, in that time she established twelve foundations in Ireland and two in England.

When she died in
1827, there were 150 Sisters.Shortly thereafter, small groups of Sisters left Ireland to establish
new foundations on the east and west coasts of the United States, in
Newfoundland, Australia, New Zealand and Argentina.There are now 10,000 Sisters of Mercy.Among other achievements, these Sisters
established 17 colleges in the U.S. and 80 schools in 7 countries.

Sister Catherine McAuley

Sisters of Mercy Website

No simple summaries suffice.

Before there were suffragettes and feminists, there were Catholic Sisters creating and leading institutions, helping to pave the way for nineteenth and twentieth century activism.

And there are Sisters preparing the way for the next century of activism. Consider just one example--it's both local and global--Assumption College for Sisters (ACS), the only degree-granting institution for Women Religious, in formation, in the world. Founded by the Sisters of Christian Charity, ACS is located in Mendham, New Jersey. Among current students are young women from Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, Malawi and Vietnam. They often held responsible positions at home, yet lacked any genuine chance for advanced education despite their motivation and abilities. Every one of these women will return to her native land, or to a mission assignment, to educate children, administer orphanages, manage hospitals and other institutions as well as fill community leadership positions.

Sister Teresia N.Mbugua, CPS, of Kenya, at her graduation from ACS in 2008

"Countless thousands of lives will be touched by them," according to the ACS President Joseph Spring. Thus does this tradition of Catholic Women Religious continue.

Not so long ago, insight into the life of one nun in particular, Sister Rose Thiering, who made the fight against anti-Semitism her life's work, became widely known in the documentary, "Rose." It won awards at the Sundance Film Festival and received favorable reviews across the country. Nobel prize winner, Sister Teresa of Calcutta, India, is, of course, another exception. It's unusual, though; Catholic Sisters rarely receive any attention. Most do their work and seek no recognition at all.

Some news occasionally reaches the public press. A recent story, for example, highlights the work of a Sister of the Good Shepherd, Sister Marie Claude Naddaf, from Syria, who would otherwise not come to our attention but for the fact that she is in the United States to receive the U.S. State Department's "International Women of Courage Award" which is given to ten women around the globe who have shown exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for women's rights and advancement."

First lady Michelle Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton present the 2010 International Women of Courage Award to Sister Marie Claude Naddaf of Syria, Wednesday, March 10, 2010, at the State Department in Washington. Associated Press.

"Any woman who has even spoken up for women's equality in any arena that counts--in politics, in business, in law, in the home, in the church--knows exactly how much courage that requires. Even now. Even here.

This woman has done it more than most. A Syrian citizen, a Christian in a Muslim country, Marie Claude entered her community at the age of 17. As a Sister of the Good Shepherd, a community founded almost 200 years ago to work for the reintegration into society of marginalized women, she has been struggling for the advancement of women for over 50 years now. That's longer than most people even knew there was a problem, let alone thought about trying to solve it."

The story of Catholic Sisters is being told through the aforementioned exhibit that acknowledges their contribution to history: "Women and Spirit: Catholic Sisters in America" will be at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum from September, 2010, through January, 2011. American history books rarely include their efforts, and, yet, when few public or private institutions provided for the poor and the sick, or educated the less-than-privileged, it was Catholic Sisters who filled the gap.

On the 30th Anniversary of Women's History Month, can't we give new and special meaning to the theme, "Writing Women Back into History," and include the first feminists? They deserve the recognition, this month, and every month, for what they have given: selfless service to those in need of an education, healthcare, support and inspiration. And for what they continue to do, much as they have done since they began their work centuries earlier. Truly, these are women of history. It is their lives too, their work too, their exercise of leadership, their legacy and their continued works of charity, generosity, caring and mercy that this month should also seek to acknowledge and respect.